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prajna101

Member
Hearth Supporter
Oct 15, 2009
137
Portland OR
I am heading to bed with a grin on my face and a front yard full of wood. I just had to tell someone. Last night I saw a listing on craigslist for some firewood for free. It said "seasoned" and "hardwood". Which to me on craigslist means "cut yesterday" and "poplar". Ha!!!

So I email the guy and he actually calls me back. It gets better. He lives a whole 5 blocks from me!!!! It gets better. I show up in my civic for the scrounge and see the pile in the front yard and it looks good. It gets better. He says "you must haul and load the junk wood first, then I let you load the good stuff" His idea of junk wood was cherry!!!! It gets better. I must take the pallets too. Now, I like pallets and burn plenty of them. These were the biggest heaviest duty pallets I have ever seen. Picture 2x6s of oak with 4x10s of oak runners. they were 4x8 pallets. I have never seen anything like them. I cant wait to burn them. Then he says "you need a truck". I agreed and stated I would come back with a tacoma. He said "You need a bigger truck or lots of loads" and takes me back to his prize. If I haul his "junk" (cherry rounds seasoned for many years under cover and the prementioned pallets) I can have this pile.

It was at least a cord and a half of the most beautiful oak I have ever seen. It was dry, split, stacked and under a wood shed for as long as he has owned the house for four years. I head to the local pensky dealer for a big truck and rent a 14 ft rig and go back.

I filled the rig (nearly) and returned home to fill my yard with a smile on my face. I bet it was about 3 cords total. FOR FREE!!!!! Wait, it gets better.

I am heading back to drop off the big rig. only having it for a total rental of 1.5 miles and I see a tree service cutting up a big cherry tree. I pull over and ask if they need the wood. They say i can have it and next thing I know, a half dozen mexicans are filling my truck. They finish clearing the yard and say, "do you want the wood in our rig? Its Apple and Pear." I say "sure" The do their thing and empty their truck into mine. I go home and pile the yard deeper. Then I return the truck. I am honest with the rental company and tell them I did not put any gas in the rig because I hardly drove it and only had it for a few hours. They thought that was fine and then cut me a deal on the rental. It cost a total of $22.00.

The only bad thing I can come up with is that the oak splits are 18 inches and are too big to fit in my stove. I dont care. I will cut them shorter with a grin. Wow. I have never had such a good thing land in my lap. I dont deserve this.

Happy hunting. The trophy is out there for you!!!

todd
 
Holy Crap man!
 
No doubt. And the funny thing is. I most want to burn the pallets. I could hardly pick one up to move it by myself. they are HUGE. I wish I new what they hauled.
 
I did screen printing for a few years and our blanks always came on pallets. When we'd order XX up to 6x they came on oversized pallets. Suckers were like making a king size bed when stacking them! Heavy Duty!
 
Holy crap on a stick!!!! Man you are one lucky SOB!!! Daaayum! You have to take some pics of this haul and post them!!
 
New, from Ronco, "but wait, there's more".
Tritodd, you know the drill. Pics, man, pics.
In all the excitement and flurry of a bunch of guys filling up the truck, I don't suppose you even HAD a camera with you, huh?
After pics is fine. We don't mind. However, date stamped would be good. ;-P
 
TriTodd, that is wonderful! Some days you seem to fall in it and some days it falls on you. Today was your day. But as nice as this is, do not think it will always be that way. lol It sure would be nice though.
 
In my neighborhood, you are mexican, or russian. They are generally easy to tell the difference. My only problem is that I can only speak english, french, and boatyard spanish. But its enough. The greatest thing about it are the pickup soccor games in the park. Lots of languages being yelled. Everyone seems to be able to understand "Hey goalie open your eyes" in whatever language its yelled in.

t
 
TriTodd said:
No doubt. And the funny thing is. I most want to burn the pallets. I could hardly pick one up to move it by myself. they are HUGE. I wish I new what they hauled.

If you have access to a reasonable size jointer and planer you could turn those oak 4x's into one hell of a nice woodworking bench top... and still burn the cut offs and pieces that are too knotty or twisted.
 
BAH! I am rained out. I knew it would start raining today so I have been processing moving and stacking as fast as I could. I hardly made a dent. All this wood so well taken care of and dry for so long. Then one day under my stewardship and it gets rained on. I know its only surface moisture but still irks me.

I have such small yard that I must get things cleaned up. There is no room for kids to play.

t
 
TriTodd said:
Then one day under my stewardship and it gets rained on. I know its only surface moisture but still irks me.
IKWYM :roll:

Fear not, it will dry just fine.

Your good fortune reminds me of a bit of good fortune that had befallen me due to another's misfortune. An acquantance quit burning wood after a chimney fire when the fire marshall condemned his installation. It was 3 full cord of well seasoned Ash and his only stipulation was I had to take it all in one trip. I rented a large Ryder truck and loaded it up until the bumper was almost dragging. The last half cord had to go in a pickup.

Like with you, they were cut too long and I had to cut 4 inches off every split. I didn't want to waste a lot of wood with the wide kerf of a chainsaw and was looking for a safer alternative so I put my two sons to work with a Sawzall.
 
I am afraid scrounging is only going to get worse from now on.
 
Wow. You must spend a lot of time on CL. I never seem to catch the good stuff, just the rotten cottonwood and plywood scraps. Well done!
 
Now that is one of the better wood scores I have seen!!! Great haul. There are still some real nice folks around. I am sure that gentleman knew he could have sold that wood for a good price but wanted to do a fellow human a real good deed. If I were you I would return the favor and maybe take him a nice box of tangerines or a jug of maple syrup or something to thank him. Him living so close, That is a guy that would make a hell of a friend.

I had a similar CL haul last year. I answered an add for a small 5x8 trailer for 50 bucks. It was in great shape and super heavy duty and only needed a new deck.As I was talking to the woman she said she was recently divorced and was moving back home to Washington state and was trying to raise some gas money. She said she had a bunch of stuff in the barn also so I went and had a look. She had a nice little Mantis tiller she wanted 25 for so I got that as well. As I am leaving the barn I notice a HUGE pile of wood around the back. I asked if she was selling any of that and she said I could just take as much as I wanted since I had already bought the other things.She said her ex was always going around getting wood and she was glad to be rid of it and was happy I could use it.(I think it was also just to jab him to see it all gone and given away but hey who am I to argue) I went to check it out closer and it was all Oak and Hickory and split and well seasoned. I would say about 3-4 cords total. I went back and said I wanted to give her something for it and she said ok well 20 dollars then. I filled the pickup and asked if I could come back tomorrow and she said just leave enough for a bonfire or two. I went the next day and got the big dual tire uhaul trailer and with my son got the rest in a 3 trips. It sure is keeping the house toasty as I type. I don't buy wood or scrounge usually, as I have plenty on my own place but for 58 bucks and some gas and some quality time with the boy I will never pass up that kind of deal.
 
You should go buy 22.oo worth of lottery tickets - it just seems right.

patch53 said:
Awesome, I hope you went out and got a few lottery tickets too ! ? :cheese:
 
Nice haul / make that two nice hauls
 
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